Timeline: Arabella Louise Stiles: Our Family History

1881—1881: Postal Orders introduced
1881—1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
Sep 1881—Sep 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
26 Oct 1881—26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral

1882

1882—1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed

1883

1883—1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
24 May 1883—24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
1 Aug 1883—1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
27 Aug 1883—27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave

1884

31 May 1884—31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
13 Oct 1884—13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world

1885

1885—1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
1885—1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
1885—1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
1885—1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
Mar 1885—Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
5 Sep 1885—5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
29 Sep 1885—29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool

1886

20 Jan 1886—20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
May 1886—May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
29 May 1886—29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London

1887

1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car

1888

1888—1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
1888—1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
1888—1888: County Councils set up in Britain
1888—1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
1888—1888: First box camera - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
20 Mar 1888—20 Mar 1888: Football League formed

1889

1889—1889: Celluloid film produced
1889—1889: Dock Strike - docker's won their 'Docker's Tanner' 6 old pennies
31 Mar 1889—31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
14 May 1889—14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
3 Jun 1889—3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
28 Sep 1889—28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined

1890

4 Mar 1890—4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens - took six years to build
4 Nov 1890—4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens - London's first deep-level tube railway and first major railway in the world to use electric traction

1891

1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
18 Mar 1891—18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
4 May 1891—4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
24 Aug 1891—24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera

1892

1892—1892: Electric oven invented
1892—1892: Shop Hours Act - limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
6 Oct 1892—6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere

1893

1893—1893: Henry Ford's first car
1893—1893: Zip fastener invented

1894

1894—1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
1 Jan 1894—1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
1 Mar 1894—1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
30 Jun 1894—30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
2 Aug 1894—2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain

1895

1895—1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
12 Jan 1895—12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England
24 May 1895—24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
28 May 1895—28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
12 Jul 1895—12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
17 Oct 1895—17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences - John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
Nov 1895—Nov 1895: X-rays discovered

1896

5 Apr 1896—5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
2 Jun 1896—2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio

1897

1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector

1898

1898—1898: First photograph using artificial light
1898—1898: Zeppelin builds airship
1898—1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
17 Mar 1898—17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
27 Jun 1898—27 Jun 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)

1899

6 Mar 1899—6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
11 Oct 1899—11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War

1900

1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
1900—1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
1900—1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
9 Feb 1900—9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
27 Feb 1900—27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed

1901

1901—1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
22 Jan 1901—22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies - Edward VII king
2 Feb 1901—2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral - interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
Jun 1901—Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
2 Oct 1901—2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
12 Dec 1901—12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse code from Cornwall to Newfoundland

1902

1902—1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
1902—1902: Cremation Act - cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments, and with two death certificates issued
1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
24 May 1902—24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
31 May 1902—31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
9 Aug 1902—9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII

1903

1903—1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
1903—1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
1903—1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
14 Dec 1903—14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright

1904

1904—1904: Leeds University established
8 Apr 1904—8 Apr 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
4 May 1904—4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French (completed 1914)

1905

1905—1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time - placed the Prime Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
1905—1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
1905—1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
11 Apr 1905—11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity

1906

1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
10 Feb 1906—10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
15 Mar 1906—15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
26 May 1906—26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
20 Sep 1906—20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne

1907

1907—1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
1907—1907: Imperial College, London, is established
1907—1907: First airship flies over London
1907—1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
Jul 1907—Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its shape after being heated
1 Aug 1907—1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
9 Nov 1907—9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday

1908

1908—1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
1908—1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
1908—1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
1 Jul 1908—1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
12 Aug 1908—12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made

1909

1909—1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
1909—1909: Peary reaches the north pole
1909—1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite - start of the plastic age
1 Jan 1909—1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
16 Jan 1909—16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
15 Mar 1909—15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
25 Jul 1909—25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)

1910

1910—1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
1910—1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
1910—1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
1910—1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
1910—1910: Halley's comet reappears
1910—1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
6 May 1910—6 May 1910: Edward VII dies - George V becomes King

1911

1911—1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
1911—1911: British MPs receive a salary
1911—1911: First British Official Secrets Act
1911—1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
1911—1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
2 Apr 1911—2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
22 Jun 1911—22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
14 Dec 1911—14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain

1912

1912—1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
1912—1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
1912—1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' - hoax, exposed in 1953
18 Jan 1912—18 Jan 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition - he and his team reach the south pole on Jan 18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November
14 Apr 1912—14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
13 May 1912—13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain

1913

1913—1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords - threat of civil war in Ireland - formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
1913—1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London - Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
1913—1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes
1913—1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
1913—1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
4 Jun 1913—4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby and dies

1914

1914—1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War
1914—1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
28 Jun 1914—28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
4 Aug 1914—4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
5 Aug 1914—5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph links to the outside world
15 Aug 1914—15 Aug 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1)
Oct 1914—Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
27 Nov 1914—27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
16 Dec 1914—16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough

1915

1915—1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
1915—1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
19 Jan 1915—19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
Feb 1915—Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
Apr 1915—Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
25 Apr 1915—25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
7 May 1915—7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
16 May 1915—16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll (aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey

1916

1916—1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
Feb 1916—Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
24 Apr 1916—24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence
21 May 1916—21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
31 May 1916—31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and German fleets
5 Jun 1916—5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
3 Aug 1916—3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
15 Sep 1916—15 Sep 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
7 Dec 1916—7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government

1917

1917—1917: Battle of Cambrai - first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
1917—1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
Feb 1917—Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
16 Apr 1917—16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
17 Apr 1917—17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
26 May 1917—26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July)
Jul 1917—Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
7 Nov 1917—7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
6 Dec 1917—6 Dec 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision, obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion
9 Dec 1917—9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem

1918

1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
1918—1918: War of Independence in Ireland
18 Jan 1918—18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
8 Mar 1918—8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
Jul 1918—Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
1 Oct 1918—1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
11 Nov 1918—11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
Dec 1918—Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein member refused to take her seat

1919

1919—1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
1919—1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
15 Jun 1919—15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
28 Jun 1919—28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed

1920

1920—1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
1920—1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
1920—1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
Feb 1920—Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road

1921

1921—1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
1921—1921: Insulin discovery announced
1921—1921: First birth control clinic
19 Jun 1921—19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
6 Dec 1921—6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland

1922

1922—1922: Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
1 Jun 1922—1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
Oct 1922—Oct 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)

1923

1923—1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
1923—1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
1923—1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
1 Jan 1923—1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR - lasted until nationalisation in 1948
16 Feb 1923—16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
28 Apr 1923—28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) - 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ' popular song of the time became the West Ham anthem
28 Sep 1923—28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times

1924

4 Jan 1924—4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
5 Feb 1924—5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC
31 Mar 1924—31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)

1925

1925—1925: Britain returns to gold standard
18 Jul 1925—18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf

1926

1926—1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
1926—1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
1926—1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
1926—1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
21 Apr 1926—21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
3 May 1926—3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
31 Oct 1926—31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini

1927

1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
7 Jan 1927—7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
22 Jan 1927—22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
1 May 1927—1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris
20 May 1927—20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33? hours
31 May 1927—31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
24 Jul 1927—24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres

1928

1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
26 Apr 1928—26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
15 Sep 1928—15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)

1929

1929—1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
1929—1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
1929—1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions

1930

1930—1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
1930—1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
30 Jan 1930—30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
31 Jan 1930—31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
6 Mar 1930—6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
5 Oct 1930—5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction

1931

1931—1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
1931—1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
14 Apr 1931—14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued
26 Apr 1931—26 Apr 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2)
21 Oct 1931—21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off gold standard

1932

1932—1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
1932—1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
1932—1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
1932—1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
21 May 1932—21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
3 Oct 1932—3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
3 Oct 1932—3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface

1933

1933—1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
1933—1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
12 Nov 1933—12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken

1934

1934—1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
18 Jul 1934—18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
26 Sep 1934—26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
30 Nov 1934—30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')

1935

1935—1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
1935—1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
28 Feb 1935—28 Feb 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from New York-London)
12 Mar 1935—12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
1 Jun 1935—1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
30 Jul 1935—30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched

1936

1936—1936: Jet engine first tested
20 Jan 1936—20 Jan 1936: George V dies
5 May 1936—5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
24 Jul 1936—24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
2 Nov 1936—2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
30 Nov 1936—30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
5 Dec 1936—5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'

1937

1937—1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
1937—1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
12 Apr 1937—12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
12 May 1937—12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
28 May 1937—28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
3 Jun 1937—3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
4 Dec 1937—4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published

1938

1938—1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
1938—1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
1938—1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
12 Mar 1938—12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
3 Jul 1938—3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
27 Sep 1938—27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
29 Sep 1938—29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
30 Oct 1938—30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA

1939

1939—1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
1939—1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
1939—1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
1 Sep 1939—1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland
3 Sep 1939—3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
6 Sep 1939—6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain
11 Sep 1939—11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
14 Oct 1939—14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
7 Dec 1939—7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
17 Dec 1939—17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo

1940

1 Apr 1940—1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
11 May 1940—11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
13 May 1940—13 May 1940: Germany invades France
27 May 1940—27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
25 Jun 1940—25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany
7 Sep 1940—7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
15 Sep 1940—15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
14 Nov 1940—14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed

1941

1941—1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
1941—1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
1941—1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
1941—1941: First use of antibiotics
10 May 1941—10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
27 May 1941—27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
22 Jun 1941—22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
1 Jul 1941—1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
Dec 1941—Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
Dec 1941—Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
7 Dec 1941—7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
8 Dec 1941—8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII
24 Dec 1941—24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese

1942

1942—1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
1942—1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
30 May 1942—30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
4 Jun 1942—4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway
19 Aug 1942—19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
6 Sep 1942—6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
3 Oct 1942—3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
23 Oct 1942—23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
2 Dec 1942—2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction

1943

1943—1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
16 May 1943—16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
24 Jul 1943—24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July

1944

6 Apr 1944—6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins
4 Jun 1944—4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome
6 Jun 1944—6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
12 Jun 1944—12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
8 Sep 1944—8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
11 Sep 1944—11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany
16 Dec 1944—16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive

1945

4 Feb 1945—4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
29 Mar 1945—29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
25 Apr 1945—25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
30 Apr 1945—30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide
8 May 1945—8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
9 May 1945—9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
26 Jun 1945—26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
16 Jul 1945—16 Jul 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on 2nd Dec 1942)
26 Jul 1945—26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
29 Jul 1945—29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
6 Aug 1945—6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
9 Aug 1945—9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
15 Aug 1945—15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
2 Sep 1945—2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
24 Oct 1945—24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
4 Nov 1945—4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded

1946

1946—1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
1946—1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
1 Jan 1946—1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
1 Mar 1946—1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised

1947

1947—1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
1947—1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
1 Jan 1947—1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
23 Feb 1947—23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
1 Mar 1947—1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
1 Apr 1947—1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
26 Oct 1947—26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
20 Nov 1947—20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey

1948

1948—1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
1948—1948: Transistor radio invented
1948—1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
1 Jan 1948—1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised
5 Jul 1948—5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
29 Jul 1948—29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin

1949

1949—1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
1949—1949: De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
15 Mar 1949—15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
4 Apr 1949—4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO

1950

19 May 1950—19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
26 May 1950—26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
11 Jul 1950—11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
9 Sep 1950—9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
28 Dec 1950—28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park

1951

3 May 1951—3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
28 May 1951—28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
20 Dec 1951—20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor

1952

1952—1952: Contraceptive pill invented
1952—1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
1952—1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
1952—1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
6 Feb 1952—6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies
21 Feb 1952—21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
2 May 1952—2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
5 Jul 1952—5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
16 Aug 1952—16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
6 Sep 1952—6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
3 Oct 1952—3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
1 Nov 1952—1 Nov 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA - the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised.
25 Nov 1952—25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
4 Dec 1952—4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London

1953

31 Jan 1953—31 Jan 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century - severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives - - effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
5 Feb 1953—5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
5 Mar 1953—5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin
26 Mar 1953—26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
24 Apr 1953—24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
25 Apr 1953—25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
2 Jun 1953—2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
26 Sep 1953—26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)

1954

1954—1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
1954—1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
1954—1954: First transistor radios sold
6 May 1954—6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
3 Jul 1954—3 Jul 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
5 Jul 1954—5 Jul 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
30 Sep 1954—30 Sep 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned

1955

1955—1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
27 Jul 1955—27 Jul 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
22 Sep 1955—22 Sep 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain

1956

1956—1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
1 Mar 1956—1 Mar 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
17 Apr 1956—17 Apr 1956: Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
3 Jun 1956—3 Jun 1956: 3rd class travel abolished on British Railways (renamed 'Third Class' as 'Second Class', which had been abolished in 1875 leaving just First and Third Class)
31 Oct 1956—31 Oct 1956: Britain and France invade Suez

1957

1957—1957: Britain introduces parking meters
1957—1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
11 Jan 1957—11 Jan 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
14 May 1957—14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
15 May 1957—15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
25 May 1957—25 May 1957: Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg - became operational Jan 1958
4 Dec 1957—4 Dec 1957: Lewisham rail disaster - 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct collapses on top of them
25 Dec 1957—25 Dec 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast

1958

1958—1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
1958—1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
1958—1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
13 May 1958—13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
26 Jul 1958—26 Jul 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
5 Dec 1958—5 Dec 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
5 Dec 1958—5 Dec 1958: Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway

1959

3 Feb 1959—3 Feb 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
17 Feb 1959—17 Feb 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
24 May 1959—24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
Aug 1959—Aug 1959: BMC Mini car launched
3 Oct 1959—3 Oct 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
1 Nov 1959—1 Nov 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened

1960

17 Mar 1960—17 Mar 1960: New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
18 Mar 1960—18 Mar 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
21 Jul 1960—21 Jul 1960: Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II (took 40 days), winning the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race which he co-founded
12 Aug 1960—12 Aug 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
12 Sep 1960—12 Sep 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
1 Oct 1960—1 Oct 1960: HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
2 Nov 1960—2 Nov 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case

1961

1 Jan 1961—1 Jan 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
13 Mar 1961—13 Mar 1961: Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
14 Mar 1961—14 Mar 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
1 May 1961—1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain

1962

1962—1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
1962—1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
1962—1962: Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
25 May 1962—25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
15 Jun 1962—15 Jun 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
Jul 1962—Jul 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
10 Jul 1962—10 Jul 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
24 Oct 1962—24 Oct 1962: Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war

1963

1963—1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
Jan 1963—Jan 1963: Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First Division matches in the month) - the first 'pools panel' created
27 Mar 1963—27 Mar 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
1 Aug 1963—1 Aug 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17
8 Aug 1963—8 Aug 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
17 Sep 1963—17 Sep 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
18 Nov 1963—18 Nov 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens
23 Nov 1963—23 Nov 1963: First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV